Constructions of Mysticism as a Universal
Roots and Interactions Across Borders
edited by Annette Wilke
This volume charts the fascinating history of the multiple roots and interactions which underlie the modern popular understanding of mysticism as a universal phenomenon across epochs and cultures. In an unprecedentedly broad interdisciplinary exchange, international scholars from different disciplines critically examine the concept and mental maps of the term ‘mysticism’ which enjoyed a central role in classical theories of religion, as developed in fields like psychology, sociology, history or phenomenology. However, mysticism lost its prominence after the controversial debates in the second half of the twentieth century about whether mystical experience should be considered universal or socio-culturally constructed. After four decades of silence, this volume ventures a stimulatingly novel approach to mysticism as a universal, transcultural category from the perspective of the cultural studies of religion. This includes the question of how a European concept fraught with Christian notions was transferred to non-European cultures and secular contexts, and thereby attained new meanings and functions in daily life. Fresh insights are gained by examining three major areas: a) mysticism’s potential for boundary crossing in earlier centuries of European history; b) the history of mysticism research in context – from the mysticism boom at the fin de siecle and early twentieth century to its renewed attractiveness in American counterculture and the psychedelic movement to its trans-formation into postmodern spirituality; and c) universal mysticism’s absorption of Eastern religions (notably Buddhism, Hindu traditions, and Daoism) as well as Asian insiders’ self-conceptions.
- Edited by Annette Wilke
Other Titles in this Series
The Yezidi Religious Textual Tradition
From Oral to Written: Categories, Transmission, Scripturalisation and Canonisation of the Yezidi Oral Religious Texts
Volume 72
Erzahltradierung als Interpretationsprozess
Eine diachrone Analyse zweier staatlicher Buddhismus-Religionsbucher aus Sri Lanka
Volume 61
Einheit in der Vielfalt
Strukturen, Bedingungen und Alltag religioser Pluralitat in Indonesien
Volume 62
Sehnsucht nach der Holle?
Hollen- und Unterweltsvorstellungen in Orient und Okzident Beitrage des Leucorea-Kolloquiums 2010
Volume 63
Der Askesediskurs in der Religionsgeschichte
Eine vergleichende Untersuchung brahmanischer und fruhchristlicher Texte
Volume 57
Patronage and Popularisation, Pilgrimage and Procession:
Channels of Transcultural Translation and Transmission in Early Modern South India. Papers in Honor of Monika Horstmann
Volume 58
Gnostica et Manichaica
Festschrift fur Alois van Tongerloo Anlasslich des 60. Geburtstages uberreicht von Kollegen, Freunden und Schulern
Volume 65
Sehnsucht nach dem Paradies
Paradiesvorstellungen in Judentum, Christentum, Manichaismus und Islam. Beitrage des Leucorea-Kolloqiums zu Ehren von Walther Beltz
Volume 59
Geschlechterpluralismus im Buddhismus
Zur Tragweite westlicher Wissenschaftskonstruktionen am Beispiel fruhbuddhistischer Positionen und des Wandels in Thailand
Volume 66
Religionswissenschaftliche Minoritatenforschung
Zur religionshistorischen Dynamik der Karaer im Osten Europas
Volume 60
Rituale als Ausdruck von Kulturkontakt
Synkretismus zwischen Negation und Neudefinition Akten der interdisziplinaren Tagung des Sonderforschungsbereiches 'Ritualdynamik' in Heidelberg, 3.-5. Dezember 2010
Volume 67
Der christliche Orient und seine Umwelt
Gesammelte Studien zu Ehren Jurgen Tubachs anlasslich seines 60. Geburtstages
Volume 56
Image of the World and Symbol of the Creator
On the Cosmological and Iconological Values of the Temple of Edfu
Volume 10
Die Sthanakavasi Jaina Orden in Nordindien
Protestantische und Post-Protestantische Jaina-Reformbewegungen
Volume 64
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